Scrawled in Wax

A little while back, I invented/borrowed/stole the term ‘Web Capital’ to signify the online equivalent of cultural capital - essentially a set of markers that indicated one’s level of web savvy and success. I didn’t say it then, but I think what I was getting at was the relationship between a sort of online ‘cool factor’ and desire - that the more desirable something/someone seems, whether in terms of ‘coolness’, physical attractiveness or wealth/success/influence, the more likely you are to visit their web site and even buy something. As with cultural capital, the actual markers of status/wealth change, but their function doesn’t. About 2 months ago, a Pownce invite was like gold - now, nobody cares, which is very similar to the way a tan used to mean you were wealthy enough to go on vacation, but now simply means you can afford tanning cream.

And now, along comes Thotmarket, who might as well have just said “we’re taking this new-fangled ‘Web Capital’ idea and going totally literal with it!”. If you haven’t heard yet, Thotmarket is a virtual stock-market for websites; think of it like Digg, except with virtual dollars rather than a number of Diggs measuring success. The more people buy a given ’stock’, the more its value goes up; it thus functions as a social bookmarking site. You can of course create your own Thot, as I did for SiW (go buy some shares!!!), or simply buy shares of people/companies/sites you like to measure/further their popularity.

What’s really neat about Thotmarket is the way it lays bare the connections between web popularity and desire/desirability, especially about how those things function in a social system like our own. We associate success with wealth; by linking web site popularity to a virtual stock market, Thotmarket seems to unintentionally do two things: first, it points to the way we associate economic success with cultural impact (i.e. box office receipts are indicators of a movie’s cultural influence as well as monetary success); and secondly, it suggests that all stock-markets are kind of irrational buying frenzies.

The overall effect though is pretty neat (if a little disturbing). Something about buying and selling shares resonates pretty strongly with our zeitgeist (too many movies from the 80’s?) and Thotmarket is definitely fun. Check it out and let me know what you think in the comments.